The Widening Gap Between the Digital ‘Haves’ and ‘Have-Nots’ in the COVID-19 Reality

By Natasha Palansuriya

24 April 2020

It has been more than a month since the curfew was imposed and I have slowly adjusted to this new reality; it has become almost normal. In this COVID-19 world, a day in my ‘work from home’ life looks like this: I set up my home office in a room away from family to avoid distractions – my desk typically has my portable Wi-Fi router, laptop and mobile phone. I check my phone for any messages, check my calendar and task list to see how my day looks like. I switch on my laptop; first I check my emails and respond to them, and flag items that need my attention later in the day. I may have a virtual meeting, I work on my laptop switching from multiple programs; Microsoft Word, PDFs and Internet browser usually. I take a break for lunch; check social media on my phone, order groceries online, and then go back to the screen to continue working.

This day is familiar to some of us to a point that we have taken it for granted. Until I started researching for this article I did not realise how much for granted I was taking it. Working from home for me was a no-brainer… I do it quite often, so it was not much of a stretch when curfew was imposed, and I had to work from home. I was hit by the stark reality of the wide gap between the “digital ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots’” (Allmann, 2020), and wider still due to the lockdown and mobility restraints. The fact is not everyone has the digital literacy level or can afford to adjust to this new reality; be it working, schooling or even socialising online

The adaptability to this new reality is easier in the developed world since most economic environments are increasingly digitised than in the developing world. In Sri Lanka, according to the Computer Literacy Statistics of 2019 published by the Department of Census and Statistics (DCS), 29% of the population aged 5 to 69 years used internet facilities at least once during twelve months in 2019. This is actually a better percentage of users compared to other South Asian countries such as India (19%), Pakistan (17%) and Bangladesh (13%) (LIRNEasia 2018). The DCS survey results further reveal that in the Urban sector, where the facilities are largely available, the usage of both e-mail and internet is higher compared to the rural and estate sectors. However, many of these people may have relied on public spaces (internet cafés, offices etc.) for low-cost or free connectivity – because having home broadband is still considered a luxury. Moreover, only 22.2% of households owned a desktop or laptop (DCS, 2019). However, the internet can also be accessed with devices in our own hands; the usage of smartphones in Sri Lanka (70.9%) would mean that majority of the internet connectivity is via mobile broadband. But in this lockdown reality, where income is compromised for most people, the questions of affordability arises.

Internet access alone does not equate to digital literacy; what can you do with this connectivity if you are digitally illiterate? The numbers show that  44.3% in Sri Lanka are digitally literate, which means that more than two out of five persons (aged 5-69) are digital literate (Male – 48%; Female – 41.1%; highest between the ages of 15-35 of about a 70% range). Which seems like quite a high number, until the numbers are scrutinised further to reveal that the actual number of people that are digitally literate in Sri Lanka may be much lower. This boils down to how DSC defines those who are digitally literate, as “a person (aged 5-69)… (who) could use (a) computer, laptop, tablet or smartphone on his/her own” (DCS 2019). Whereas, digital literacy is much more than the ability to use any of these devices. It is the ability to access/find, analyse, evaluate, utilize, share, and create content using information technologies and the Internet[1] (Heick, 2019; Hobbs and Moore, 2013). Moreover, when the numbers are broken down further – by sex, age, level of education and income levels, the picture becomes much more nuanced, throwing into view how the existing inequalities in our society permeates the digital divide as well.

So, is Sri Lanka equipped to go digital in order to continue to be productive and efficient in a lockdown situation such as this? For the private sector it is not much of a stretch to adapt to ‘work from home’ arrangements, although in some industries they cannot be 100% operational; to a certain extent and at certain level work can go on. In fact, computer literacy (the ability to use a computer on his/her own – DCS 2019) has become an important requirement to secure employment in the private sector. This is because almost all private sector companies are digitised to a great extent and communicate through emails and other digital means (Kulathunga, 2020), and most companies have given devices such as phones, tablets, laptops and Wi-Fi dongles to employees to be able to work on-the-go. But are people ready/able to navigate the blurred lines between the workspace and the ‘home space’ in such a situation? What are the effects to a person’s physical, psychological and emotional wellbeing that comes with the merging of ‘paid work’ and ‘unpaid care work’ in the private ‘home space’?

Apart from the private sector, are Sri Lankan government ministries/agencies equipped to operate in a lockdown situation such as this? Not all government sectors have digitized completely to be able to serve in a lockdown situation. One cross-government digitization project, which was brought to our attentions, implemented by a private company[2] has helped 15 government agencies (including 10 zonal education offices) to digitize and archive personal files of employees, however, the process of digitizing the workflow of 20 government agencies are still underway. Therefore, from what I am aware of, not all government agencies have not completely digitized their working environments to be able to efficiently operate in a lockdown. However, the Information and Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA) has initiated the ‘COVID-19 Response’ with a few platforms for employees of government agencies/ministries to work from home, such as meet.gov.lk for video conferencing, and other apps for instant messaging and collaboration, and web portals for citizens to be in touch with the government and access services where possible. However, it has to also be considered that not all government servants are digitally literate – and have low computer literacy rates (Kulathunga, 2020) –  or have the resources such as devices and internet access to work from home, thus it begs the questions; to what extent will these platforms work in the current situation, and how is it going to be sustained in the future?

Another group that has to face changes due to the COVID lockdown are students. Whilst private colleges and universities seemed to have utilised online platforms, the state universities have just implemented a system for students to access to online webinars with no data charges, however there are still issues of accessibility that needs to be dealt with.  Similarly, at the school level, some international and private schools are operating online (online schooling), through webinars and study packs/guides that are emailed or available to be downloaded from the school’s web platform. However, this is not the case for most schools, especially for government schools. Although some government schools have launched their own websites, and there is an e-learning space for students of government schools called  E-Thaksalawa, with learning content for grades 1-13, with no data charges for accessing the site (ICTA, 2020), not all families can afford accessibility to digital devices, nor can afford the time to assist their children in learning at home, or have the digital literacy to know how to search and utilise home-schooling tools, sites and methods. Similarly, all teachers may not have the digital literacy to conduct webinars or share study guides electronically. According to the DSC Computer Literacy survey (albeit the difference between computer literacy and digital literacy) those with a higher education level are far more computer literate (about a 30% difference) and those with English language literacy are far more computer literate (about a 40% difference). This too shows the disparities that exist in terms of access to quality education in a time such as this. However, it is important to point out that there are other forms of learning people can rely on, albeit a reduced learning experience, such as physical workbooks and educational TV programmes that most students can access.

Also, the elderly and disabled, who do not live in multi-generational households or in households with digital constraints, and/or live alone or with minimum physical support, are most severely impacted by the pandemic and its mitigation tactics (Allmann, 2020). Youth aged 15 – 19 years have the highest computer literacy rate (63.8%) among all other age groups; whilst the elderly (above 60 years of age) have the lowest computer literacy rate of 6.2% (DSC, 2019). This also affects them in terms of getting daily essentials, groceries and medication – when online methods of getting groceries and medication delivered are available, not knowing how to order them means the elderly are found queuing up in pharmacies for hours or not having wholesome meals for days.

The digital divide is also gendered, i.e. not all men and women have equal access to it, the resources to use it or the capability to use it. Whilst 41.1% of the female population are digitally literate (maybe lower in reality as explained above), only 25.4% use the internet and a mere 9.7% communicate via emails (DSC, 2019). Whereas, the numbers are slightly higher for the male population (48% digital literacy rate; 33% internet usage; 13.5% email usage). It is safe to say that the COVID-19 lockdown has exacerbated these inequalities further by emphasising the impacts of these inequalities, at a very practical everyday level. For example, a woman who heads a household, with lower education levels will struggle to make their ends meet, unable to look into the children’s home schooling requirements, access produce for cooking and may even struggle to access any government support provided to her, if such support is contingent on being able to travel and having the right kind of connections.  Moreover, according to a 2016 report by Sri Lanka Demographic and Health Survey (SLDHS) studying the mobile phone usage of women to complete financial transactions, it was revealed that only 4% of women who own a mobile phone use it for financial transactions. They analyse that mobile phone ownership and mobile phone use for financial transactions increases with education of the woman and household wealth. However, being able to perform financial transactions digitally may only help if there is money in the bank. This sheds further light to the structural issues at the core of our economic system, which has to be addressed, and now is a better time than ever.

So, is Sri Lanka equipped to survive this lockdown economically and socially? Only a minority are able to carry out their day to day work – it boils down access to quality education leading to digital literacy, and wealth to be able to afford resources to be connected even in a time of social isolation. It opens our eyes once again to the widening gap of the ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots’. And still more, a wakeup call for us to take that step further to digitise our work and school environments and equip the workforce, in all sectors and industries, with the right knowledge and equipment to be able to carry on the economy even if a similar pandemic forces a lockdown in the future.

End notes 

[1] Whilst this also includes social media usage and sharing information responsibly, I will not tap into this aspect in this article, with the aim of staying within the foundational boundaries of digital literacy that are critical during this period.

[2] Acknowledgement to Tech One Sanje for the details provided regarding the cross-government digitization project initiated in 2018 in collaboration with ICTA.

References

Allmann, K. (2020). Covid-19 Is Increasing Digital Inequality: We Need Human Connectivity to Close the Digital Divide [online]. Medium. Available at <https://medium.com/@kiraallmann/covid-19-is-increasing-digital-inequality-but-human-connectivity-is-the-answer-424812acbb65> [16 April 2020]

Department of Census and Statistics (DCS) (2019). Computer Literacy Statistics – 2019 (First Six Months).  Available at <http://www.statistics.gov.lk/education/ComputerLiteracy/ComputerLiteracy-2019Q1-Q2-final.pdf> [16 April 2020]

Heick, T. (2019). The Definition of Digital Literacy [online]. TeachThought. Available at < https://www.teachthought.com/literacy/the-definition-of-digital-literacy/> [16 April 2020]

Hobbs, R. & Moore, D. C. (2013). Digital and Media Literacy. In Discovering Media Literacy: Teaching Digital Media and Popular Culture in Elementary School (pp. 12-27). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Information and Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA) (2020). Covid19 Response.  Available at <https://www.icta.lk/covid19-response/> [23 April 2020]

Kulathunga, H. (2020). Technology Based Private Sector and Public Service [online]. Sunday Observer. Available at <http://www.sundayobserver.lk/2020/03/29/opinion/technology-based-private-sector-and-public-service> [20th April 2020]

LIRNEasia (2018). Afteraccess: ICT Access And Use in Asia And the Global South.

Sri Lanka Demographic and Health Survey (2016). Women’s Empowerment and Demographic and Health Outcomes. Available at <http://www.statistics.gov.lk/social/DHS_2016a/Chapter15.pdf> [16 April 2020]